http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/30159664

 

Yeah everyone throws that argument as it's the statistic that most favours Button in spite of all the genuine statistics like poles, wins, actual seasons ahead is the same car, winning 2 championships, winning a WDC in a none WCC car.

If we're going to find stats that aren't used in competition to prove a spurious point I wonder who would win if we add all the race times of races both drivers fully completed together?

Given I know you race and have a decent knowledge of F1 I have to believe you know that statistic is also heavily skewed by reliability and operational issues out of his control more severely impacting Hamilton's results through '12 as well.

Button has impressively seen off two young pretenders in the last couple of years. The problem he has is McLaren know exactly what he'll deliver, and probably also for how long. Magnusen has one thing Button doesn't and that's potential.

No doubt next year Button would net them more points. But the year after that? What about in another 3-5? They're thinking long term and taking risks. Button is a victim of his own consistency.

They're going to have Alonso bringing home the points, may as well also wager on an outside bet.

The way they handle it though is not what a veteran like Button deserves.

 

This last race was fun to watch. I too felt sorry for Rosberg but I was glad to see Williams going for it at the end.

 

There's lots of stats between the 2, but my argument wasn't to say who's better out of the 2 of them necessarily, more to point out Jensons consistency at upstanding teammates and that he's still capable.

Probably the best article between the 2 of them whilst at McLaren is this one:

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/1...rd-at-mclaren/

There's some interesting info in there and its very easy to show plus and minus point for both, but my point remains, he gave Lewis a very hard time. Number of pole positions isn't relevent to me unless you convert them to points in the race. It proves who's quicker over a single lap, and theres a lot to be said for that but as Jenson keeps saying, it's points on race day that count. You can argue 2 things there. If Jenson qualified better he'd likely be even higher up the grid. Or if Lewis only qualified back where Jenson was, would he have had the same ability to finish as high up the order?

In my view Jenson is still right up there with the top guys and there's a lot of fact to back that up. Even down to things like reaction time rankings. Alos worth remembering that as a team boss your prime aim is constructors championship, and he's scored a lot of points... More than Lewis at McLaren and his 5th place this weekend saved them from being overtaken by Force India.

Regarding potential, I agree there. He's at his peak, however if you think strategically, there's a new car / engine coming and you want experienced feedback. Give hi a year contract, get Alonso in for 2-3 years... If Jenson performs as well as Alonso then there's a difficult decision to make for the next year, and of not, well there's a lot of options available, particularly Hamilton and Rosberg.

 

Maybe that's the other half of the puzzle. What if he performs a well as Alonso? Honda want their star driver. How much would it ruin the party if Button ran him close or heaven forbid beat him?

 

Alternatively, you could see that Button is well known as a good driver to help set up the car (probably because he's so picky about setup!), so he'd be good to help the new car development in the first year or two, then in the meantime find someone really worth the 2nd seat (Kvyat, Bottas, maybe even Vergne etc are all better than Magnussen I reckon).

I think the main problem is Button's price. If that's the case, McLaren should just name their best and final, and let Jenson decide whether he wants to earn less than what he's 'worth' and continue in the sport he loves, or go elsewhere. McLaren have handled this badly in my view, and I suspect it's Ron trying to show that he's got the power to do anything so you you're all going to toe the line.

 

Honda/Japan has a soft spot for Jenson too (due to previous involvement, girlfriend etc), so it may be that they'd want Jenson to be the star driver and Fernando is having none of it!

 

Or Stefan Vandoorne.

They'd probably love to keep Button on as a test/simulator/development driver but I'm sure he'd tell them to sod off.

So is this going to work? I had four goes at posting to this thread yesterday, but the forum was being even less reliable than a Mercedes ERS unit.

 

Heard Lewis Hamilton on 5Live this morning and he actually came over very well. There was an 8yr old karting champ in the studio with him and he was very good with the kid as well as chatting about his own career. He certainly went up a few points in my estimation ...